A PAIR OF FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED PLUM-PUDDING MAHOGANY COMMODES AUX VANTAUX

With a sumptuous combination acajou mouchété panels and finely chased ormolu mounts, possibly supplied by Christofle & Cie., this splendid pair of commodes perfectly evoke the exceptional workmanship of Guillaume Grohé, whose distinguished atelier oversaw royal furniture commissions for Louis Philippe and Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie at Château de Compiegne.

The superb bronze mounts on the present pair – perhaps their most impressive feature – recall the central mount of a similar cabinet by Grohé which was exhibited at the 1867 Exposition universelle in Paris (see The Illustrated Catalogue of the Universal Exhibition, London, Virtue & Co., p. 211). The same cabinet was again exhibited in The Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition where it was engraved and illustrated in W. Smith, The Masterpieces of the Centennial International Exhibition – Industrial Art, p. 440. It very possible that the mounts may have been cast by the illustrious silver firm, Christofle & Cie., who exhibited finely-chased ormolu mounts of strikingly similar design as late as the 1878 Paris Exposition universelle. A related composition of delicate floral stringing entwining female terms is illustrated in The Illustrated Catalogue of the Paris International Exhibition, Virtue & Co., 1878, p. 137. The link between Grohé and Christofle, two haut-luxe Parisian firms, is not an anomaly, as they appear to have collaborated on significant commissions, notably a meuble d’encoignure - a defining object of the Japonisme art movement, now in the collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (inv. 27662).